Parents question Shark Thuy: "Where is your court of conscience?"

Apax Leaders held two consecutive meetings with parents in Ho Chi Minh City about the restructuring progress and tuition refund roadmap on the afternoon of April 9 (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Who sympathizes with parents ?

This afternoon (April 9), Apax Leaders sent an invitation to hold two consecutive meetings with parents in Ho Chi Minh City about the progress of restructuring and the roadmap for tuition refunds, and did not allow the press to attend.

Opening the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy (aka Shark Thuy ) - Chairman and General Director of Apax English Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Apax) - shared some things that were not new compared to previous meetings.

He still gave the reason that the center closed because of Covid-19 , economic difficulties led to a crisis, loss of control, creating frustration among parents throughout the past year. Mr. Thuy also promised to refund the money to parents when classes could not be opened.

"We will gradually have a roadmap, starting to pay for parents who have confirmed fees and are late in June this year. For parents who are not late in paying, it will start from August," Mr. Thuy informed and apologized to parents.

Although Apax had announced the roadmap earlier, many parents present at the meeting did not agree with the above timeline.

Ms. Ngo Thi Thuy Quynh - a parent at Truong Chinh facility - was indignant: "We here are victims of Apax Leaders... Apax Leaders always say they are having difficulties, so do they ever understand the difficulties of the parents here?

Don't we have difficulties? Have you ever sympathized with the difficulties of all the parents here? Is there anyone here who doesn't have to borrow money from the bank or relatives to pay you? Thousands of people must sympathize with your difficulties?"

Ms. Ngo Thi Thuy Quynh questioned Shark Thuy at the meeting on the afternoon of April 9 (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Ms. Quynh questioned, the center always said it was on the decline, why do teachers and sales people still encourage parents to pay money, give incentives, pay re-fees...

"Everyone has a court called the court of conscience of each person. If you know that your system is going down, you can explain to each parent or regulate students to a certain partner. You cannot encourage parents to pay tuition like that. You do that for a purpose.

Just one or two months before the mass closure, parents were encouraged to pay. It's just that people don't know anything. We are the ones who suffer," Ms. Quynh said indignantly.

Ms. Quynh also recommended that the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City must intervene to protect the rights of parents and students because the center can only operate if the Department issues a license.

Ms. Thuy Quynh's questions received much agreement from parents.

Parents are upset after paying nearly 300 million VND for their children to study at Apax but the center keeps making promises (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Similarly, Ms. Thu Huong - a parent at Cong Hoa facility - choked up when she paid more than 340 million VND for her 3 children to study at Apax since 2019. However, due to the pandemic, the number of classes her children attended was quite low and now she does not know how or when she will receive a refund.

Ms. Vo Hoai Tam - a parent at Tran Binh Trong facility - paid nearly 300 million VND for her two children, but their studies were constantly interrupted, and they were transferred to 5-7 centers. Ms. Tam said that Apax had made many promises so she no longer had faith.

When asked which parents wanted to continue sending their children to school, only a few responded. But when asked who wanted to withdraw their money, almost all the parents present raised their hands in agreement.

Parents raised their hands to ask Apax to refund tuition fees soon (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - CEO of Apax Leaders also continuously asked parents for support and understanding so that the center can reopen.

He said that Apax is sick and has not recovered yet. Parents should give him a chance to recover and then go to work to pay off his debt.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - CEO of Apax Leader - asked parents to sympathize and support the center (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Tense meeting atmosphere , hotel cancels service

During the meeting, the atmosphere was quite tense and parents had to put pressure on Apax Leaders to let reporters attend.

However, not long after that, at around 3:00 p.m., the meeting was forced to be postponed because the hotel announced that it would not allow the meeting to be held due to security and order issues.

A series of parents reacted strongly and questioned Apax's leadership. Parents surrounded Mr. Thuy and Mr. Tuan Anh to question and demand that they sign a commitment to pay tuition fees.

Parents around Shark Thuy questioned about tuition refund (Photo: Hoang Chung).

By 3:40 p.m., many parents had left the meeting because they thought "no problem was solved."

The second meeting was scheduled to take place at 4:30 p.m., but Apax Leaders announced via the screen in the hotel lobby that the meeting would be canceled.

Parents attending the second meeting questioned Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan in the hotel lobby because they could not attend the meeting due to the sudden cancellation (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Parents surrounded the meeting hall (Photo: Hoang Chung).

Parents attending the second round were also not allowed to enter the event grounds. Many parents were upset because they had to wait a long time to get to the meeting but could not attend.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc-huong-nghiep/phu-huynh-chat-van-shark-thuy-toa-an-luong-tam-cua-cac-anh-dau-20230409154557251.htm